Not quite running on hot air
Employees of the province of Drenthe can now use a car that runs on hydrogen for their business trips; as of this week the province has four of these cars in use, says the Province.
By making the cars available for business trips, the province wants to contribute to the development of hydrogen technology, but also to help with test driving for the new technology. The test is part of the Interreg project Hytrec2, which hopes to investigate the use of hydrogen in vehicles; and from which the province receives a subsidy for the use of the four company cars.
The province of Drenthe also wants to encourage the development of a regional hydrogen filling point network in Drenthe by using the hydrogen cars.
A hydrogen car is in principle “just” an electric car, only the energy is not stored in a battery, but in the form of hydrogen. In a so-called fuel cell, the hydrogen is converted back into electricity to power the engine. The cars can refuel approximately 6 kg of hydrogen, which should provide a range of more than 500 km. The cars only emit water while driving. The advantages over an electric car are a longer range and especially the much shorter refueling times. At a regular filling station, the tank is full again in less than 5 minutes.
Image via the Province of Drenthe
